6 Ways To Maintain Friendships Besides Texting, So You Won’t Be Greng Jai To Tell Them You Miss Them

Creative tips and tricks for maintaining adult friendships


Friends are an important part of one’s life. Not only can you expect more happy days from healthy friendships, but as the saying goes, being surrounded by good company might just be the key to unlocking extra years of life.

However, maintaining friendships can be a challenge for us, working adults, who have things to tend to every second – be it a family matter or something at work keeping us at our desks. This leaves us with very little room to delve into other activities, like seeing our squad

But, it’s not entirely impossible.

Here are 6 creative ways to stay in touch with your friends that are def doable for anyone, even those with busy schedules.

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1. Surprise your friend with a GrabFood delivery


No matter how much your heart aches to meet up with your friends, tight schedules or other unavoidable emergencies sometimes require us to send the dreaded “Hey, I can’t make it tonight” text.

This often leads to further separation anxiety, plus a sulking friend or two.

Here’s an idea on how you can turn your friend’s frown upside down: treat them to a meal delivered straight up their door. Not only will it be a pleasant surprise, but it’s also a sweet gesture to let your friend know that you do care about them. 

Luckily, Thailand has multiple delivery options like GrabFood, foodpanda, Robinhood, LINEMan and many more. 


For an extra “aww”, make sure it’s something they love.

While a free meal from their bff will surely put a huge smile on their face for days, it’s still important to set aside quality time with your friend – even if it’s just 10 minutes on the phone every other week. This way, you can constantly be a part of each other’s lives, and each cancellation can feel a little less like you’re blowing them off.

Tip: Set a recurring Google Calendar event every two weeks, so you’ll always remember to check in with your besties


2. Take advantage of pages like @bougiebangkokgirl


What are memes there for if they’re not to tag your friends in? Tagging your friends in relatable content is also the simplest, yet most effective way to keep in touch with and convey to your friends how special they are to you. Because, TBH, we all know that memes are reserved for baes and bros.


One of the pages that we recommend for the best memes is @bougiebangkokgirl on IG, where you’ll find an endless supply of hilarious posts suited to both your Thai and international friends.
Image credit: @bougiebangkokgirl

Another option would be specialised meme pages like Subtle Asian Traits (SAT), or its sister page, Subtle Thai Traits on Facebook.


Image credit: Subtle Asian Traits

The contents – whether memes or videos – on these pages are not only highly taggable, but will let you have a glimpse into other cultures that actually aren’t so different to ours – take boba fever for example.

So, go on one of the pages right now and tag your friends to let them know that you’re think of them, and more importantly, that you know them.


3. Use the pin function on LINE to keep your group chat alive


Group chats are a great way to keep you and your friends connected. Unfortunately, they often wither away into a silent death. Solution? If you don’t have LINE, download it. Then use the features in there, which are dedicated to keep your chats alive.

Here’s how you can play around with them.


Question: Do you even live in Thailand if you don’t use LINE?
Image credit: LINE

First off, create an event in your LINE group chat when making plans with your friends, so it doesn’t just disappear into the conversation and drown in the sea of “I can’t make it this week” messages. Giving these plans a date will also help make it official, giving it a higher chance of happening.


Images adapted from: Nune Praewalin

Better yet, pin the events as announcements as well. Now that these plans are placed at the top of your chat screen, no one will miss it. Particularly your forgetful friends.


You can also simply pin the texts as announcements.
Image credit: LINE official blog

While you’re at it, might as well pin the best conversations, too, so that the moments are not lost. Plus, you can easily access the messages to reminisce about the great conversations with your pals.

What this says about group chats is that they need constant watering to continue to thrive, so make sure to utilize the app features – including group video call and photo album – to keep it engaging.


4. Create polls on your social media to keep the replies coming


Now, here’s how you can prevent your group chat from becoming a monologue: the poll function. Creating polls is a great way to grab your friends’ attention and provoke some actions from them – they’re simply just fun and require minimal effort.


It’s also convenient for making group decisions
Images adapted from: Nune Praewalin

You can also come up with polls on other social media platforms, like the stories on Instagram and Facebook as well. This way, you can avoid the ruckus of texting multiple friends at the same time just to get an opinion on a shopping item or a haircut.


Switch your stories to “close friends” if it’s something more personal 
Images adapted from: Nune Praewalin

Additionally, it might even open up a chance for those who you haven’t talked to in a long time to reconnect with you – all thanks to these polls.


5. Go up the rank with your friends in online games like RoV


It’s almost a universal truth that the best way to connect with others is via games, and Thais are known to be big-time gamers. This includes working adults a.k.a. my brother. Quite a number of them can be seen tapping and shouting at their screens every single night.

So, if you’re looking for a way into your Thai friends’ hearts and to maintain a place in them, then RoV or PUBG might just be the answers for you.


PUBG Mobile – a shooting game in a battle royale game format
Image credit: diGit

RoV and PubG are massively multiplayer online games, which means you can play with multiple friends while remaining at home. These two games are also among the most popular in Thailand, with different languages available.

Plus, they are both battle types and can be won as a team – the perfect opportunity to nurture your teamwork skills. After all, adult friendships require the same amount of fun as childhood friendships. 


Image is used for illustration purposes only
Screenshot: TheSmartLocal

A perk of online games such as these is that players can climb up the rank, which def gives you and your friends something to work on together. Plus, some people also love competition, so this will be a good motivator for them to hang out with you.

Pro-tip: there are streaming channels on Facebook and Youtube to give you guides and tricks. So, check them out to level up your skills before showing them off to your friends.


6. Follow travel blogs as #inspo for your next trips


A lot of us follow travel blogs to fill up our wanderlust tanks. Some follow them as inspo for trips with their bae. Even if they may not exist just yet.

If you haven’t thought about this already, why not use them to find inspirations for the next trips with your friends as well?


Screenshot: Go Went Go

There are an abundance of travelling pages on Facebook these days, like Go Went Go and Go Rogue. Hence, you can easily tag or share these posts to your friends to spark a conversation, and maybe even a trip to look forward to.


With visuals as beautiful as these, it’ll be hard for your friends to say no to this.
Image credit: Go Rogue

Not only are travel blogs good for trip ideas, but they also usually come with all the info you need: attractions, costs, and how to get there. In other words, they’re itineraries. Thus, saving you and your friends a great deal of time to come up with a plan, which TBH can drag on forever.

Bonus: Food blogs can be an alternative for you foodies out there who enjoy going on food adventures with your friends.


Image credit: Moof Around

Tip: Aim to bring up a trip or adventure idea at least once a month. This’ll keep you and your friends’ spirits up, as ya’ll would have something to look forward to.


Don’t be Greng Jai to tell your friends that you miss them


No matter how many techniques there are to remain in touch with someone, they say the key to keeping a friendship going is to telling your friends that you miss them. 

We know that you may be Greng Jai – or “afraid” in English – of bothering your friends, especially when they say they’re busy. However, a simple “I miss you” won’t hurt them. Instead, it’ll warm up their heart and let them know that they have a friend right here.

So, reach out and talk about your old days together when you’ve run out of topics, because it can only strengthen the bond between you and your friends.

Learn more about Thai culture:


Cover images adapted from: CAPTN (Right)

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